Purnell quits and tells Gormless to go

James Purnell, Work & Pensions Secretary has quit the Cabinet and has publicly called for Gordon Brown to go, telling him directly that he, McBuffoon, is the problem and he must go for the sake of the Labour Party.

Purnell's letter to Brown - already plastered around all of the internet after being shared with The Sun and The Times - reads:

Dear Gordon,

We both love the Labour Party. I have worked for it for twenty years and you for far longer. We know we owe it everything and it owes us nothing.

I owe it to our Party to say what I believe no matter how hard that may be. I now believe your continued leadership makes a Conservative victory more, not less likely.

That would be disastrous for our country. This moment calls for stronger regulation, an active state, better public services, an open democracy. It calls for a Government that measures itself by how it treats the poorest in society. Those are our values, not David Cameron's.

We therefore owe it to our country to give it a real choice. We need to show that we are prepared to fight to be a credible Government and have the courage to offer an alternative future.

I am therefore calling on you to stand aside to give our Party a fighting chance of winning. As such I am resigning from Government.

The Party was here long before us, and we want it to be here long after we have gone. We must do the right thing by it.

I am not seeking the leadership, nor acting with anyone else. My actions are my own considered view, nothing more. If the consensus is that you should continue, then I will support the Government loyally from the backbenches. But I do believe that this question now needs to be put.

Thank you for giving me the privilege of serving.

Yours,

Rt Hon James Purnell MP

Meanwhile, within half an hour of the polls closing, Labour MPs are queuing up to run to the media in what can only be described as an open civil war.

There are calls for Gordon to resign in the morning, calls for a secret ballot for Labour MPs, calls into Sky News calling those who are being 'disloyal' "utterly disgusting"...

That the party led to three huge election wins by Tony Blair should descend to this under an unelected PM, all in the space of two years...